Fret level & dress :: 1989 Sadowsky Jazz Bass [8.8 lbs]

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This sweet 27 year old Sadowsky J-bass has been through the shop before and this time in for some high / loose frets.  Before leveling the frets, I glued and clamped down all of the frets to ensure they did not move.  On rosewood fingerboards my glue of choice is thin superglue.  This was a finished maple fingerboard so superglue can make a mess quickly.  I opted for slightly thinned down yellow glue to penetrate down into the slot and easily clean up.  Now the frets are ready to be leveled, crowned and polished.  This player prefers electric guitar action (ie low) so precise fretwork is critical.

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Flat frets & poor intonation :: 1988-96 Fender Custom Telecaster HH [7.0 lbs]

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A rare neck through dual humbucker Telecaster in for a fret level, though not for fret buzzes.  These wide, flat jumbo frets were causing intonation issues for the player.  Leveling out the flat frets and recrowning them helped improve intonation up and down the neck.

Fret level & recrown :: Fender Custom Telecaster HH

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A custom neck through Tele with dual humbuckers in for a fret dress.  Most fret levels that come through the shop are done to correct buzzing issues.  This player has a good ear and the flat spots in the jumbo frets were causing intonation issues for him.  With a wider fret, the fretted note's contact point gets pushed more towards the bridge as the fret looses it's crown when compared to narrow fret wire.  Leveling out the divots and recrowning restores the string's contact point to the center of the fret slot to provide improved intonation.

Uneven frets :: 2015 Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor II Pro/NA [6.9 lbs]

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This Epiphone archtop came in for a setup along with a full fret level.  The fixed-top archtop bridge also needed to be properly compensated to keep the flatwound strings playing in tune.  During the final setup I found this annoying B note sympathetic vibration that was tracked down to the bridge tone cap physically vibrating against the pot.  This was a first for me!  Just glad I figured it out as rattles can drive you insane.

High fret dress :: 2015 New Era Senorita Stefan Grossman [4.4 lbs]

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I'm pretty reserved in my tastes but this absolutely works for me!  Well ... maybe not the jewels in the headstock but it's a recreation of a rare 1935 Bacon & Day Senorita S-6 guitar popularized by John Fahey.  This had a few high frets over the body transition that were leveled out.  This guitar sounds as good as it looks.

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